French's International Copyrighted (in England, her Colonies 
and United States) Edition of the Works of the Best Authors 



No. 391 



A Trick of the Trade I 






AX EPISODE IN ONE ACT 

BY 
ALICE K. BROWER 



" - .'-■ 



COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY SAMUEL FRENCH 



Amateurs may produce this play without payment of 
royalty. All other rights reserved. 



PRICE 30 CENTS 



New Yoek 

SAMUEL FRENCH 

publishes 

28 — 30 West 38th Street 



London 

SAMUEL FRENCH, Ltd. 

26 Southampton Stbeet 

STRAND 



I 



A Trick of the Trade 



AN EPISODE IN ONE ACT 



By 
ALICE K. BROWER 



Copyright, 1920, by Samvel Frwch 



Amateur* may produce this play -without payment of 
royalty. All other rights reserved. 



New York 
SAMUEL FRENCH 

Publisher 
38-20 West 38th Street 



London 

SAMUEL FRENCH, Ltd 

26 Southampton Street 

Strand 



,■& 



1$ \ 



©CLD 5 6058 



NOV 20 1920 



CHARACTERS 

The Girl. 

(The Matinee Hero, 



A Trick Of The Trade 

Scene. A comfortably furnished living-room in 
an uptown apartment. There is a couch at 
centre-bttck, piano left stage back, entrance door 
left stage front, open fireplace, centre-right, 
tea-table set for afternoon tea, right front, easy 
chairs and table centre of room, with magazines 
and a telephone. Good pictures on the walls' 
and clock on the mantel, which points to a quar- 
ter to four. 

The Girl wears a dainty afternoon dress — The 
Man conventional, well-cut clothes. 

The Girl is discovered on the couch, reading 
a magazine. She glances at the clock two or 
three times, then throws the magazine on the 
c. table and goes to a window. Then to the 
mantel and takes down a photograph of a 
young man and looks at it. She turns on 
the current under the tea-kettle, straightens 
the pillows on the couch, again glances 
at the clock, turns off the heat under the 
kettle, and goes to the piano where she plays 
mid sings a few bars of a song, breaking off r 
abruptly and whirling around on the piano ' 
stool. She goes to the c. table and is re-arrang- 
ing a bowl of flowers when a bell is heard, and 
in a moment the Matinee Hero enters the 
room and stands just inside of the doorway. 
The Girl turns with assumed surprise and 
holds out her hand. 



6 A TRICK OF THE TRADE 

The Girl. So you really have come ! Even 
after your note, I couldn't bring myself to believe 
you'd do it ! (She motions him to a chair on the l. 
and sits opposite, on the other side of the table) 

The Man. I get many notes like yours, but this 
is the first time I've ever done more than glance at 
them and tear them up. 

The Girl. (Smiling) What was there about 
mine that made you not only answer it, but accept 
my invitation to tea ? 

The Man. ^Curiosity, perhaps, and maybe be- 
cause your note was unusually clever. I wanted to 
see, for once, what a girl who would write to a man 
she didn't know was like. 

The Girl. Have you made up your mind? 

The Man. It's too soon to make decisions. But 
tell me, why did you write to me? 

The Girl. (Clasping her hands around her 
knees) I've seen you act so many times, it almost 
seems as if I knew you. I've even waited at the 
stage door for a glimpse of you, and once you 
passed me on the street ! 

The Man. Why didn't you drop your handker- 
chief or faint ? They always do in books ! 

The Girl. I couldn't be as silly as that! And, 
anyway, I didn't think of it ! 

The Man. (Laughing) I guess that's the an- 
swer ! 

The Girl. The other afternoon I saw you for 
the tenth time this season, and I made up my mind 
I'd write to you and ask you to tea, for I felt I must 
tell you what I thought of you. 

The Man. What would your family say to all 
this? 

The Girl. Oh, I haven't much of a family and 
I chose a day when the coast would be clear! 

The Man. What would you have done if I 



A TRICK OF THE TRADE 7 

hadn't answered your note ? Would you have tried 
again ? 

The Girl. I don't know just what I should 
have done ; but you answered so soon I didn't have 
time to think. I can't imagine now why you chose 
to be so nice to me instead of all the other girls. 

The Man. Your note was rather unusual, you 
know, and your address was such a good one. From 
the amount of money you must have spent in your 
short life, just to see me across the footlights, I felt 
I owed you some return. A cup of tea before a cosy 
fire, with a pretty girl to pour it for me, was tempt- 
ing, I confess. If you had asked me to meet you at 
a hotel tea room, I'd never have come! 

The Girl. What made you think I'd be pretty? 

The Man. Aren't all Matinee Girls good-look- 
ing? Anyway, you are, you know. (The Girl 
rises and goes to the tea-table and once more tarns 
on the current under the kettle, zvhile The Man 
glances at a magazine on the table) Don't you like 
me to tell you you're pretty? 

The Girl. (Fussing with the teacups) Of 
course I do, if you really mean it. 

The Man. (Coming near her) I never say what 
I don't mean nor do what I don't want to. 

The Girl. You're a lucky man if you can al- 
ways have things your own way. 

The Man. You had yours, to-day. 

The Girl. (Glancing at him) More than I 
really hoped for ! 

The Man. Am I all that you dreamed? 

The Girl. (Sitting at the tea-table) It's a 
dream come true ! 

The Man. (Sitting opposite her) Just what 
do you think of me, now I am a reality? 

The Girl. (Pouring out a cup of tea and hand- 
ing it to him) Aren't you conceited enough now? 



8 A TRICK OF THE TRADE 

The Man. If I am, it's because girls like you 
have made me think a lot of myself. You throng 
to see me and fall in love with me all over again, in 
each new role. You squander money on my pic- 
tures, and then write me letters! I'm human and 
it's hard to keep a level head under the circum- 
stances. 

The Girl. But you wouldn't draw such a large 
salary if we didn't make you so popular! 

The Man. Quite right, young woman ! We 
would not have you otherwise ! But come, you 
haven't told me if I come up to your ideal ! 

The Girl. You haven't told me what you think 
of me ! Ladies first! 

The Man. I'll tell you when I've finished my 
tea. May I smoke? 

The Girl. (Handing him a box of cigarettes) 
Of course you can ! 

The Man. (Putting the box on the table) 
Thank you ; now begin on your impressions of me. 

The Girl. I'm embarrassed ! I know what I 
think of you when I'm alone, but when I see you 
before me in flesh and blood, drinking the tea I've 
made, out of my own cups, I can't say a thing! 

The Man. That's not fair play ! I intend to be 
very frank when my turn comes and I deserve to 
hear something pretty nice from you ! Think of all 
the letters I received the other day and yours alone 
was the only one I answered, while the others went 
up in smoke. And here I am, doing what I never 
have done before and never will again! 

The Girl. (Rising and getting a box of matches 
from the mantel) What you never will again? 
Then you won't come here for some tea another 
day? 

The Man. (As she holds a match to his ciga- 
rette) I'll leave that to you to decide. Come ! I'm 



A TRICK OF THE TRADE 9 

getting impatient ! (The Girl goes to the r. of the 
centre-table and The Man turns round in his chair 
and faces her) 

The Girl. I've seen you play so many parts, in. 
costumes of so many periods. Then you were act- 
ing and it's hard to believe you aren't "in charac- 
ter" now. (The Man looks interested) You aren't 
quite as good looking when you're just yourself, 
and you seem older. You're really quite sensible, 
while I hoped you'd be frivolous. But, on the whole, 
I like you just as much as I knew I should and I 
don't want to think it must all end to-day. I did 
an unconventional thing and you accepted it: can't 
we make it the beginning of a friendship? 

The Man. (Rising and walking to the fire, 
zvhere he stands with his back to it) I've accepted 
your invitation and your hospitality, but I came 
here to-day with a purpose and I'm going to carry 
it out, even if it seems — well, wait and see! You 
asked me why I came and I told you the truth but 
not all of it. As you know, I received a dozen let- 
ters when I did yours, all from girls I have never 
seen. Yours was clever, you didn't gush, you stated 
plain facts. You admired me, wanted to know me 
and asked me to come to your home. When I re- 
read your note I made up my mind to come, for I 
felt I could talk here as I couldn't elsewhere and I 
knew at heart you were a nice girl. And so I came 
to tell you what we actors think of a girl who does 
the thing you did. (The Girl begins to look un- 
comfortable) I know this is hard medicine, and 
when you told me a few moments ago you couldn't 
decide whether I was acting or not, you were right. 
I've been "in character" ever since I came here, play- 
ing the conceited puppet who fell for the flattery of 
a foolish girl ! One who should have known better, 
I've discovered, for this room shows your bringing 



io A TRICK OF THE TRADE 

up. You are not a half -educated child, old before 
your time, fed on cheap novels and cheaper conver- 
sation. The very atmosphere of this room is one of 
culture, yet you do a thing one might expect of a 
girl who lived in a three-room flat in Harlem. What 
would you do if your mother should happen in? 
How would you explain me ? I thought all this out 
before I came, and am ready for any emergency. 
You are lucky there hasn't been any. (The Girl 
rests her head on her arms, on the table) I am a 
brute, I know, but did you really think I was the 
kind of a man who would want to keep up an ac- 
quaintance begun as this one was? I know many 
women and I don't care to count among my friends 
a girl who would do what you have. (He walks to 
the table) I don't ask you to forgive me, I only 
beg you to stick to the conventions you were brought 
up to follow and not to fall from your class. If all 
I have said has had any effect on you, I've do/ie 
what I meant to do when I said I'd come. (He goes 
to the door) You asked me if I would come jigain 
— I think you've had your answer! Good-bye! 
(He pauses in the doorway and looks at her — she is 
crying. He takes a step toward her, then shakes his 
head and goes out of the door. When there is the 
sound of the outer door closing, The Girl raises 
her head from her arms. She is laughing. She 
reaches for the telephone) 

The Girl. Greeley 641 — Morning Courier? — 
Dramatic Editor, please. — 'that you, Mr. Clifford? 
Miss Morrison speaking. Yes, I got my story — not 
what I expected but much bkter — never would have 
given it all in an ordinary interview — might lose his 
popularity — Advice to Matiliee Girls! Believe me! 
Do I get a raise in salary ? 

CURTAIN 



JUST PUBLISHED 

Nothing But the Truth 

A Farcical Corned" in Three Acts 

By 

James Montgomery 

Cast of Characters 

Bob Bennett 

B. M. Ralston 

Clarence Van Dusen 

Bishop Doran 

Dick Donnelly 

G-wen 

Mrs. Ralston 

Ethel 

Mable 

Sable 

Martha 

SCENES - 

ACT 1. A Broker's Office 

ACT 2. Parlor of a Country Home 

ACT 3. " " " " 

TIME: The Present 

"Nothing But the Truth" is built upon the simple idea, 
of its hero speaking nothing but the absolute truth for a 
stated period. He bets a friend ten thousand dollars 
that he can do it, and boldly tackles truth to win the 
money. For a very short time the task is placidly easy, 
but Truth routs out old man Trouble and then things be- 
gin to happen. Trouble doesn't seem very large and 
aggressive when he first pokes his nose into the noble 
resolve of our hero, but he grows rapidly and soon we 
see our dealer in truth disrupting the domestic relations 
of his partner. In fact, Trouble works overtime, and 
reputations that have been unblemished are smirched. 
Situations that are absurd and complications almoist 
knotted, pile up, all credited to Truth, and the result of 
the wager to foster and cherish that great virtue from 
the lips of the man who has espoused the cause of truth 
to win a wager. 

It is a novel idea and so well has it been worked out 
that an audience is kept in throes of laughter at the 
seemingly impossible task to untangle snarls into which 
our hero has involved all those he comes into contact 
■with. It is a clean bright farce of well drawn characters 
and was buil.for laughing purposes only. 

William Collier played "Nothing But the Truth" for a 
year at the Longacre Theatre, New York, and it has been 
on tour for over two seasons. 

After three years continuous success on the profess- 
ional stage we are now offering "Nothing But the Truth 
for amateur production. It is one of the funniest aad 
brightest farces ever written, and it is admirably smtea 
to amateur production. 

Price 6o Cbkts 



/, 



( 



, i 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





017 400 467 5 * 



